Supervisor Rolland also calls for national neighborhood watch and police dispatcher reform to reduce “living while Black” police responses
MILWAUKEE – As part of Milwaukee County’s ongoing work to achieve racial equity, Milwaukee County Supervisor Shawn Rolland is introducing a resolution calling on Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin State Legislature to reclassify false police reports on any member of a minority group as a hate crime, mirroring legislation that’s been introduced in the state of New York.
“People with hate in their hearts who call the police to harass minorities don’t deserve cute internet nicknames—they deserve significant fines and time in jail,” said Supervisor Shawn Rolland.
Supervisor Rolland’s resolution also calls on counties, cities and police departments to take three additional actions:
Work together with neighborhood watch groups to develop educational campaigns to clarify what suspicious behavior is and is not.
“We need communities to launch an unprecedented community outreach campaign to end this collision course between police and innocent members of minority groups,” said Supervisor Rolland.
“Dispatchers should be empowered to determine when to authorize a police response due to reported suspicious behavior and when to deny a police response based on racial bias alone,” said Supervisor Rolland.
